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Synecdoche refers to a literary device in which a part of something is substituted for the whole (as hired hand for "worker"), or less commonly, a whole represents a part (as when society denotes "high society").
Synecdoche (/ s ɪ ˈ n ɛ k d ə k i / sih-NEK-də-kee) is a type of metonymy; it is a figure of speech in which a term for a part of something is used to refer to the whole (pars pro toto), or vice versa (totum pro parte).
Synecdoche is a helpful device for writers to express a word or idea in a different way by using an aspect of that word or idea. This allows for variation of expression and produces an effect for the reader. For example, a common synecdoche for proposing marriage is to ask for a person’s “hand.”
Synecdoche is a device used in many idioms, colloquial expressions, and slang terms. One common form of synecdoche uses a body part (hand, heart, head, eyes, etc.) to stand in for an entire person.
Mar 14, 2023 · Synecdoche (pronounced sin-ek-duh-kee) is a figure of speech in which a specific part of something is used to refer to the whole thing. It comes from the Greek word synekdoche, which means “simultaneous meaning.”
Synecdoche refers to a figure of speech in which the word for a part of something is used to refer to the thing itself (as hired hand for 'worker'), or less commonly, the word for a thing itself is used to refer to part of that thing (as when society denotes 'high society').
Synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase that refers to a part of something is substituted to stand in for the whole, or vice versa. For example, the phrase “all hands on deck” is a demand for all of the crew to help, yet the word “hands”—just a part of the crew—stands in for the whole crew. Synecdoche is a subset of metonymy.
